FINALLY, ETNA!
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Hi and welcome to One, with Megan Mowley here to help you navigate the world of one. I'm Mel Gilchrist, I've thrown myself introducing myself and we're here to talk about navigate the world of one. And you are Meg Procton, and you're a master of one. There we go, we got there. Do you know what? I'm just too excited because we are doing it today Finally. Oh my god, it's just like.
Speaker 2:It's just so cool. It is cool, so we are doing it now today. Mel's been looking forward to this for, oh, I reckon, a year. We've been talking about it and we haven't actually got round to doing it, so here we are doing it now.
Speaker 1:Now. We kind of said it in the last episode, I will say it again the thing is and it's been really cool in wine for a couple of years. It's been this kind of I don't know, like black, the cool region that everyone is obsessing over.
Speaker 2:And why is that?
Speaker 1:Well, white Lotus came after that, so it was big in wine, yes, but then White Lotus went to what is the city?
Speaker 2:They were in Sicily.
Speaker 1:Sicily.
Speaker 2:So they went to Sicily for White Lotus and they went to the wine re-interrupt about the Etna wine.
Speaker 1:Yes, so now all of a sudden, consumers are interested. It just exploded In Etna wine as well, which is kind of like good because we like to share, but then also it's so bad because prices went up and then they had an outbreak because of the terrible weather last year and so their production is really, really low.
Speaker 2:They've lost a lot of crop. So it's a region. If you see it anywhere between $60 and $100, buy it now, because I imagine it's going to just go through the roof, and we had an Etna Bianco after we had Andrew Shedden on our episode.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we had him on our episode. I bought it for.
Speaker 2:Christmas and my brother-in-law's mum, basically, I think, went and wiped her dance store out of the entire and it's now become her drink du jour. She doesn't drink a lot, but when she opens it. I was like that's not that cheap, you know it's not cheap Must be nice. But because she doesn't drink a lot and she's she's quite wealthy, she can afford to do it.
Speaker 1:Well, oh, look, it's good stuff, so I'm keen to get into it and I hope everyone's going to enjoy listening about it and go buy it themselves, because it rocks. But first, meg, what have you been drinking?
Speaker 2:What have I been drinking. I've actually taken photographs. I remember the name Domaine La Lourie, rivage Blanc, igp, cote du Nabeau Jesus, so Cote du Nabeau, all the Domaine La Lourie. It's from the Prince Wine Store. Uh-huh, I Amulet of pizza. It's kind of a blend of Grenache Blanc and Chardonnay and a whole mix of things, igp. So it's a cheaper wine. So it's a, you know, vendapay style of wine, nubbins down in the south of France in the Longerrock region, and it was just super refreshing. We haven't had a really hot summer but we had a run of a few days and I had been drinking sort of light red, so sort of San Givais-ish styles of wines, and I was sitting outside just thinking I need something super fresh. So I plunged it in the freezer, which I know you're not supposed to do. Is that little snorts from?
Speaker 1:Billy.
Speaker 2:She's snorting, so plunging the freezer. Absolutely delicious Prince wine store can't remember, but I'm going to say, oh, hang on 25 bucks.
Speaker 1:Nice Wait and it was good. It was really good.
Speaker 2:We love that Just super fresh and a little bit of oily texture. I love oily texture. A wine that I hate to say this you could almost prop an ice cube in it. You did not, I did I didn't because I threw it in the freezer to get it cold, but just drinking that. We discussed this, I think, last year. These IGPs, these cheaper regions, these sort of weird-ass blends I don't mention what they are they throw anything in, anything that's grown in the region. Yep, I just think they're interesting. And that's another thing that I wonder if our warmer regions could do something like that. So don't name a variety. Yep, like, let's throw some saam shard musket.
Speaker 1:I love it, but you're going to have a hard time convincing the Australian consumer. Riverland, white. Yeah, you're going to have a hard time. I would not pick up Riverland white. It's like I knew what was it. Would you pick up a?
Speaker 2:Rivage Blanc, igp, coated in number, and you'd be going. Well, there's too many words that I can't pronounce. This is true. So yeah, riverland Blanc, blind way to go. Mate, she LAUGHS. Jesus, I'm a marketing genius, she LAUGHS. Anyway, that's what I've been drinking. It was very, very lovely.
Speaker 1:And fun fact, my fun fact.
Speaker 2:Um, oh, again, I'm not sure. There was a study done by the Chinese, some Chinese Bureau of Meteorology talking about you know, we've had La Nina. So this is a Southern Pacific Ocean Oscillation weather pattern. Yeah, so it affects us in the Southern Pacific and we were expecting El Nino's hot and dry, la Nina's wet and cool, yes, in our summers. Um, and it's all based on the surface temperature of the ocean, depending on how how dry El Nino will be, and they think that this next El Nino, which is coming on in, is going to be the driest and hottest OKwhen they've seen.
Speaker 1:But I mean they did say that about this summer as well.
Speaker 2:I know La Nina has dragged her tail, but and my husband says every year oh, it's going to be the hottest body year on record and we're going to have fires and but just the reason I mentioned this there was then a follow-on in this article about how that's going to impact grape growing.
Speaker 2:We're lucky we've got dams full of water, yeah, so we've got some water for spades, yeah. And I mean, you know, with the whole El Nino, La Nina phenomenon, where they said El Nino was coming, farmers de-stock their farms because they thought they'd be in a, you know, for cattle and then they're scrambling to buy cattle. Don't listen to the weather. We know in Melbourne we never listen to the Bureau of Meteorology. It's just like, yeah, whatever, it's just a kind of rule of thumb, it's not an absolute.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Anyway, so that's my fun fact.
Speaker 1:Love it. Let's get into Etna.
Speaker 2:OK, so Etna, it is a specific DOC. It's a facility within Sicily, the island off volcanic soils, yeson, the side of Mount Etna.
Speaker 1:So it's like an actual volcano right. It's an active volcano, it's active.
Speaker 2:It's an active volcano.
Speaker 1:What does that mean? Like it's not actually going to explode?
Speaker 2:is it Possibly? What? Yes, possibly. So they live in fear every day, oh goody. Well, that's why they say the Sicilians live such great lives because they just never know where it's going to end.
Speaker 2:They just, you know, live each day as if it's your last. That's really poetic. I love it. So there's two wines yes, there's a white, there's Etna Bianco and there's Etna Rosso. So, very, very simple, the white is made from caracanti grapes, 100%, indigenous grape variety to Sicily. The red is made from nereolome mescalese, uh-huh, 100%. They can add another grape variety in. Oh God, I can't remember the name. It's a really bizarre name. It starts with C. I'll remember it as we go along.
Speaker 1:OK, but both of the wines that I've got here are nereolome mescalese, 100% wines and I don't think you have to be fluent in Italian to join the dots that Etna Bianco is white and Etna Rosso is red.
Speaker 2:Oh, sorry. Yes, so we have the same producer, caranco, two wines the Etna Bianco, villa de Boroni, which is $60 from Dan Murphy's 2021, versus the same producer Caranco. Etna Bianco Contrara Caranco. So this is a smaller plot. It's like a named single vignette. Yes, equivalent, this is $99, $99, $100. So we're not Okay.
Speaker 1:So sorry, the first one is more regional and then the second one is single vineyard. Yes, got you Okay.
Speaker 2:And then we repeat that for our reds. So we have. I've clotted Kurenku etna karankai with my best Australian accent Etna karankai. With etna rosso, villa de Baroni 2018. That's $60 versus the Contrada Karanko single vineyard with a smaller plot at $139.99.
Speaker 1:And it's all the same. Great variety Vineyard. That's not vineyard. A winery producer, same producer, yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm really keen to see what the difference is. Yes, so I mean you're literally doubling the price, pretty much, of their entry level at $60.
Speaker 2:Entry level at $60 must be enough. So karakanti, on the whites for me, is a very floral mineral. They say that you can almost taste the volcanic ash in the wine, as we know that minerality is not absorbed into vines. But anyway, there's a lot of romance. They say that because when it does rain, some of that ash gets onto the leaves, some of that minerality goes through into the leaves and is trans-cadded. Is that real? No, there's a whole heap of romance about it, but these are very distinctly volcanic.
Speaker 1:Because you can't get flavour through the leaves right Like through the outside of the leaves.
Speaker 2:And we know that the thing that causes minerality is not trans-cadded and it's not absorbed through the roots? Yeah, but it is a high acid for a hot region no water, low-vigor vine. So it retains its acidity. It retains its freshness. It's got this sort of mineral, honey-suckle character to it. I love it. Great food wine, these are not cheap. The reason they're not cheap is because the production is so low. That's little Billy. What do you think? Miss Billy, I think she's into it.
Speaker 1:So what do you expect before we even go into it? What should we expect from an etna?
Speaker 2:No oak, beautiful acidity that makes my mouth water. Mm-hmm, wet stone. A honey-suckle, lemon pith. It sounds all very sort of neutral grapefruits, but it has this, I don't know. It is distinctly etna. Yeah, I think it's the minerality, the pithiness. I get sometimes a slight Like almond. Have you ever smelled almond essence that you put? Geez, yeah, I know You've structured me. Mazzaphan, mazzaphan. Everyone hates mazzaphan, so I hate using that word. No one likes mazzaphan because that mazzaphan icing that's on cakes, but it does have this almond-y-ness about it.
Speaker 1:There's yeah, it's a long-legged almond lime I get it's like a clay. It's a stupid descriptor, but it's almost like what I imagined a clay would taste like if you ate it. Yeah, and a really different kind of citrus. Like it's not I wouldn't call it lemon or lime Mandarin, even though I don't know. No, it's probably something exotic from Thailand that I've never tasted, maybe like an oozu or something, but it's a really interesting citrus.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry, I'm just district. What little bugsy she's so beautiful.
Speaker 1:She's making lots of doses.
Speaker 2:Anyway, the wine's amazing $60,. I know it's a lot of money. People, they're all undercooked. It is a lot of money, but it's a surprise. Win friends and influence people. One.
Speaker 1:You're right. I would say this is a take it out of the fridge 20 minutes before you want to drink it. One Like I think it's a little too cold.
Speaker 2:OK, so this was in our beer fridge, which is set at Super Cold in summer. But that has I left home it. I put these out at 730. It's now 9.55. So it's had. Were they in my fridge? No, that's the beer fridge. Is that cold? It is super cold. It's crazy cold.
Speaker 1:Even just in the glass. It's every time I have a sip. It's coming to life a little bit more.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's my only complaint. Oh, bottle is ridiculously heavy.
Speaker 1:Come on, it's $60 bottle.
Speaker 2:You're still not yeah if climate change happens, you guys are fucked. Let's do something about climate change by you know, reducing our bottle weight.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is true. This is true, you're the first ones to go at now.
Speaker 2:As my mum used to say, God helps those that help themselves. Yeah, not that she was ever, not that she is ever a religious woman. But the bottle weight, but look that's, there are new kids on the block. They don't have. You know, there's not huge production, but I'm really keen to see what the difference is with when we're doubling the price of the wine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my God, that is just so delicious, oh yum.
Speaker 2:Shame. I have things to do this afternoon. I would just happily sit here and look. I can't see how much I've poured. Is that enough? Yep, oh, ok. So the first thing I noticed Money. The first one was a twenty twenty one. The second one is a twenty twenty. So we've got some bottle age. Maybe they release it with some bottle age on it. Yeah, that could be part of the who knows?
Speaker 1:though we've said we just don't know it's getting sent to, especially if it's exported, and and it's that price it might not be popular in Dands. It might have been on the shelf, we don't know. Oh, ok, so it's way more savoury almondy, I'm actually not getting much comparatively like oh it's, it's. You have to search a bit more. On the nose. It's not as lifted Mandarin yeah.
Speaker 2:Hmm, okay, I had to say this. That is slightly oxidised. Maybe we have a bad bottle. Should I take it back and get another one? Yeah, I don't know, I just wouldn't. It seems really developed. Well, it's a three and a half year old. What's three years really? Three year old wine? It just seems super developed for that style of wine. The other, villa de Baroni, was much fresher and much more delicious, I thought, and much more what I expect from Etna Bianco. Maybe this vineyard has more exposure, lower yields, but it does feel slightly oxidised. There's a new Gary character showing development in the wine that I wouldn't expect. That said, haven't really done many vertical wine taste.
Speaker 1:Etna Bianco. Etna Bianco.
Speaker 2:Well, I can't say, oh, it's a little bit reminiscent of the 95.
Speaker 1:Don't know it is new, gary, actually, but how do you know that that's not just intentional?
Speaker 2:I don't. Yes, you don't know, I don't.
Speaker 1:It is faint enough that I was thinking it could be intentional.
Speaker 2:I'm wondering if this has gone into old barrels. Maybe here we go.
Speaker 1:You know what? I quite like it too, the texture. I reckon it has been in old barrels. I think you're right, because that's got a more interesting texture. It has that oiliness that we've talked about.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, this is $100. It was produced from local variety Carycutta, the vine age being from 50 to 60 years Jesus. The resultant wine boasts complex aromas of citrus, green apple and peach, while the pallet has a sustained intensity and attack aided by the crunchy, minerality and powerful fruit flavours.
Speaker 1:Okay, when was Phylloxera through Italy?
Speaker 2:1870s, 1880s. Right, okay, like the rest of Europe.
Speaker 1:Has Cicely had Phylloxera? I don't know. I was just thinking that. Can I get all the way to a full cutting garden?
Speaker 2:Phylloxera doesn't like sandy soil, so you can grow your own root vines. Again, we digress.
Speaker 1:Let me know. I was just wondering about the age of the Vineyards 50 to 60 is nothing, that's my age so old.
Speaker 2:I think you're coming. That is too cold and it needs possibly to open up. It's one of those wines that's a little bit closed.
Speaker 1:It's interesting the more I drink it, the more I like it, and the more it warms up, the more it opens up and I'm actually really warming to it.
Speaker 2:I think I just prefer the freshness of the first one.
Speaker 1:Okay, this sounds weird, but there's like something cheesy on the nose which I'm kind of enjoying. It's like a dairy.
Speaker 2:You know what it smells like, why. You know there's cheese sticks.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a tout that tastes like cheese sticks and you can feel it.
Speaker 2:It's cheesy, but it's not even quality cheese and I don't even know if that is cheese.
Speaker 1:I wonder what it is. Looks like plastic. Yeah, you know what I like that that's. That's quite yummy. Okay, good.
Speaker 2:I'm. She's breathing really loud. We're doing a podcast, baby Doesn't matter, she can stay in there as much as you like, she's so beautiful. Okay, we better move on to the other one because she has got to get her vaccines done today. She does Bottom line different. Yeah, one has more development. One has more savoury. Yeah, cheesy, leasy character May have been aged on Lees from an older vineyard. One is super fresh, classic etna bianco. One is she shows more development, more nougat, and they are two very, very different wines. So comparing them which is better is different, because it's hard, because they are so Completely down to personal choice.
Speaker 2:They're completely different styles, yeah so let's see if we can do it in the red again. Very heavy bottles, okay. Villa de Baroni, villa d'Aier Baroni 2018. Etna rosso 100% nerello mescalese Nerello mescalese 60 bucks. It looks like Barolo.
Speaker 1:It looks exactly like Barolo. I love that, like russety garden colour. Yeah, that real tawny. It's like almost got that orange tinge to it. It's such a great colour. It does. It looks like a Barolo. That is beautiful.
Speaker 2:Oh my god it smells so good. I mean there is. This is not a fruity wine, this is. There's smokiness as charcoal. I'm going to sound like such a work worker here. I almost can smell volcanic ash like I imagine walking up the side of the thing and the ash coming up like cinders. Yeah, but without that acridness.
Speaker 1:You are a wanker, but it's so true. I always get like a um A bit of sour cherry. I always get like a roasted tomato type smelling wines like this.
Speaker 2:Well, sundried tomatoes are coming back.
Speaker 1:Coming back. Where were they?
Speaker 2:They were in the 90s styling. They were stuck in the 90s. I didn't know. We ever lost them, but you know they're coming back. Um they're putting them in the pairing method this year.
Speaker 1:Oh, really.
Speaker 2:Oh, I have to come with you Switching it up this year, making some changes.
Speaker 1:This is like rust. The word rustic comes to mind.
Speaker 2:Oh see, I have negative connotations to that word.
Speaker 1:Do you how come?
Speaker 2:I don't know. It's when people talk about rustic wines, I imagine out of balanced tannins, and um, a savouriness for me is probably the word that I would prefer to use to describe it, rather than rustic.
Speaker 1:I think that's really interesting. Rustic wines for me are like this, but that savouriness is very true.
Speaker 2:Well, there's lots of black cherry cherry lolly. I like that. It needs food Spice, baking spice.
Speaker 1:Tannins are nibbiollo-esque. Yes, they're completely nibbiollo-esque.
Speaker 2:I don't know how.
Speaker 1:But and then? So when would you buy this over in nibbiollo? Then Like, would you just buy nibbiollo 60 bucks yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, true, it's not as good as a Barolo, but Barolo is going to cost me more than $100. I would drink a nibbiollo delange which sits around this price point 45 to 60. Possibly over. I just think again. Food, you know I love food. This just needs something. This is kind of a crowd pleaser because there's nothing and this might sound like an insult. There's nothing overt about it. It's a very subtle, lovely, savoury red wine with great tannin structure. That just needs something.
Speaker 1:It's good, it is so beautiful and it's 28 in, so it's got a bit of age on it. Ultimate savoury wine Yum, hmm.
Speaker 2:Nice.
Speaker 1:That's like a don't want to spit it out, one yeah just swallowed that. Yeah, it's 10am.
Speaker 2:It's alright, I'm a wine professional.
Speaker 1:We can because we're wine professionals.
Speaker 2:No, but I, you know, we have been spitting as we know. That's how we knew that Mel was pregnant. When his spittoon was absolutely full and Pete called it, not me he went what the hell's going on with Mel's spittoon? I'm like oh I don't know. She's pregnant. I'm like, and then a week later Mel comes up and goes I'm pregnant.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I told you quite early on because I was so sick and Tom had to drive me to your house to do the podcast, right?
Speaker 2:But beer Pete had pulled it, he'd already called it, called it. He has had experience with a pregnant woman before. Yes A crazy pregnant woman too. Anyway, now we're moving to the same as the white wine. So it's Conranco, etno Riosso, doc, contrata, contrata, conranco, which is this smaller plot of vineyards from 50 to 60 year old vines. Yeah, 2019, 100% Nerello Mescalese. Great variety, okay.
Speaker 2:Again very very heavy, and this is a whopping 139.99. So, Mel, you're drinking well tonight. Ooh, oh see, I prefer that nose. Maybe it's the difference in the years. It's got more of that violet fresh licorice lift to it.
Speaker 1:Maybe the other nose? Oh wow, yeah, we have clear favourites in both of these and the reverse.
Speaker 2:In the reverse.
Speaker 1:I liked the more intensive of the whites and well, so far, let me taste the red. But yeah, so far I liked the nose better.
Speaker 2:I love that. I love it.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's seamless.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Spotless, it's perfect.
Speaker 2:It is perfect.
Speaker 1:But man it needs something, and we do not say that about wines very often.
Speaker 2:I do, Do you? No, oh no, that is. Look, it's 140 bucks, so it's not perfect. That is a lot of money to spend, but if you do want a great example of the great variety, the region and just the pure finesse and seamlessness of these wines and why they have a bit of a cult following now this is going with your mates, you know put in 30 bucks each. Yeah, it's worth it.
Speaker 1:This is what I noticed. This is my takeaway the best wines of the world and the best ones that we taste. Every wine, we smell and we taste and we go, oh, cherry or lemon or whatever. But when we taste one of those rare, amazing wines, we just taste it and we don't go to flavor distributors.
Speaker 2:True, we're kind of speechless.
Speaker 1:We go to. Just that's what it is. It's perfect. It's not helpful, people sorry. Yeah right, I mean we can, we can dissect it, but I think it's interesting that the completeness is what's interesting about it, not a specific flavor.
Speaker 2:And that's, it plays into that wine commentary. Yeah, Because we do this for a living. We comment on wine, we do describe them, but this is just like just drink it.
Speaker 1:Yes, it is so.
Speaker 2:It's such a pleasurable experience, and that's what wine should be about. It should not be a carapace of spiky tenons, to quote a recent review.
Speaker 1:I was reading over the other day. I was reading like I wanted to know what some of the most amazing wines in the world. So I was looking up like old burgundies and stuff. And I was looking up like very famous wine critics and what they had to say about it and they were like, not as acidic as the 95 and stuff. And I was like helpful, that's not helpful. I don't know what the 95 tastes like, Like what?
Speaker 2:I know, yeah, I know.
Speaker 1:I want to know what it tastes like and you're giving me nothing.
Speaker 2:Oh, that was one of my fun facts, but I'll do that next week. Save it. Yeah, just with with DRC. Like Janice Robinson's sidekick did the 21 DRC review, well, great, but they're talking to.
Speaker 1:Explain DRC.
Speaker 2:Domain Romani Conti, the most expensive wine in the world, burgundy. They're talking to what? The population of the world that would have tasted it or drunk it or could afford to buy it? You're talking.0005%. Yes, it's nothing. I have had DRC twice in my life. Nice, worth it, it was lovely, but it's £5,000 a bottle. No, yeah. I would rather drink that any day for Sunday, yeah, oh, do we need a cloth?
Speaker 1:Please have fun, tom. Okay, we're back without a vomity baby. Yeah, all good Delicious.
Speaker 2:Look in terms of fruit profile. There is that minerality. That's savouriness. Black olive, olive tapenade. I get some of your tomato stem character Sundried tomatoes, cherry, but it's neither cooked nor confected. It's like I don't know. Yeah, this is going to be wanky bruised cherry, but dark cherry. You know, I don't know. When we get cherries and they come in and cherry season, I always pick the really black ones out. I don't like the red ones Really. Yeah, I always go for the dark ones.
Speaker 2:Hmm you are weird yeah that's my son, oh my God. But it is almost indescribable.
Speaker 1:It is and this is what Dianne Backel says the Chendon wine maker. He said the best wines of the world. Their tasting notes should run, or could run, over multiple pages, Like it's not the kind of thing that you can just describe in the few words. They should be able to take you a place that you can just so indescribable that you're using so many words to try and sum it up, or, the opposite, leave you speechless. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:Which in and of itself is fantastic, because we've discussed this. We are translating a sensation, taste and flavour into words, very much like we're describing art, a visual medium, into words. Yeah, and sometimes it's just like this is perfect. Yeah, just drink it. I know it's a lot of money, it's a lot of money, but it's a special treat. Wine. If it's your birthday, coming up, ask for a bottle of this. Yeah, you don't need anything else. Great, that's so true. New TV Get this, ok, love it.
Speaker 1:Well, we are done for the week and we'll be back next week. Next week we do have another Wired News episode, so we look forward to seeing you then. And until then, enjoy your next glass of wine, drink well.